Française de deuxième génération: Constructions of Girlhood in Banlieue Literature

Abstract

This paper examines popular cultural representations of girlhood in Arab-French communities and literary depiction of generational divide between mothers and their young daughters from Trente Glorieuses through Twenty-First century. Although birth of Beur novel made famous in 1980s has largely been credited with opening a polyphonic discourse about multiculturalism in France and with breaking silence associated with first generation North African immigrants, it lias also lead to development of a master narrative inscribed in stereotypes and representations acquired from cultural institutions. Through a primary focus on representation of immigrant women in France through voices of young girls as narrators, this paper develops a critical analysis of processes of stereotyping and projection of North African women as in popular cultural productions.In evolving genre of late twentieth and early twenty-first century autobiography and autofiction, theme of adolescence is fundamental. At same time, contemporary Franco-Maghrebian works attempt to reroute colonialist usage of labels such as Beur. Islamist, First Generation Immigrant and Second Generation Immigrant, which carries a colonial heritage into present practices while segmenting contemporary French nation geographically, judicially, and linguistically. In fact, this linguistic segregation through labeling freezes immigrants and their descendants in discourse as Other and Foreigner and prevents complete integration through discrimination that this terminology provokes.Although recent years have seen appearance of works such as Inch'Allah Dimanche (2001), which promises a change in representation of Maghrebi-French communities, children of first generation North African immigrants and their descendants have most often been represented in context of banlieue, isolated and distanced from larger familial context and appearing to function independently, without parental guidance.1 Dominant media has tended to create and reinforce stereotypes as these cultural productions interpret immigrant lifestyles without accounting for diversity which exists within North African immigrant experience in France along socio-economic, ethnic, and gender divides. Historically, Maghrebi-French literature and films adopt a masculine perspective and women are largely absent from them as primary or secondary characters. In a patriarchal community, it is hardly surprising that erasure of women is also reproduced in Arab-French cultural productions. In some cinematographic works, for example, Carrie Tarr has pointed out that women are depicted either in a manner that highlights their sexuality, thus equating women outside of home to prostitutes, or in a manner that characterizes them solely as victims of patriarchy, equating woman who stays at home to a victim. When women are present in Maghrebi-French cinema, films present two extremes: Other's exoticism, such as in Le The au harem D'Archimede, or construction of scenes in which a damsel in distress is liberated by Western society in films such as Aicha (2009) (Tarr 29). Descendants of North African immigrants, perceived as victims of their own tradition and familial milieu, attract sympathy from French audiences who are quick to criticize a culture perceived as Arab and in conflict with the West (Tarr 29).Fictional identity constructions concerning North African immigration, however, have consequences outside of fictional world, spilling over into real-world society as these constructions in literature and films redefine, redistribute, and reorient ethnic identities. Today, with presence of three generations of women of North African origin in France, stereotypical discourse continues as each generation is subject to its own popular representations and stereotypes in literature, cinema, and media; certain stereotypes slowly disappear with birth of others. …